Salve Favoni

Yes, we can agree that Caesar was practical in his approach to everything. Religion did not dictate his actions in the sense that he was led through superstition. In a different way, his office as pontifex maximus would have required him to perform his duties, so in a sense it did dictate some of his actions. I would agree he at times used religion to his advantage. I think he did believe he was favored by the Gods, convinced his soldiers and his political followers of the same, and took advantage of it when he could. One always acts on their beliefs, and I don't think you can rule out that he held religious beliefs that he would then act upon. To say he was not religious I think takes the matter too far.

The matter of auspices, their nature and the focus of the religio Romana as you mentioned before, I did not reply on because I think it is a discussion we might better move to the Religio Romana group. I do not think the auspices can be taken as a superstitious act in the way that Romans saw them. They had a different paradigm in which they operated and the auspices were natural to how they perceived the universe. We have a different scientific paradigm and would see things differently. But the role of the auspices and how Caesar might have thought of them or used them would have to be assessed from within his scientific paradigm. Could the pontifex maximus and the leading member of the college of augurs dispensed with taking the auspices when the daughter of one was to marry the other? I don't think so, as it would likely have upset Julia if tradition were not followed. Caesar and Pompeius must have taken the auspices, and I would think they would have paid close attention to whether the signs were beneficial. Would they have aborted such a convenient arrangement for their political ends if the auspices were especially bad? If you understand how the auspices worked then you would know it would be extremely unlikely that the auspices would rule out the marriage, where every good sign would have only encouraged their feelings of happiness. However if the ground opened up between Caesar and Pompeius while taking the auspices, I think even 'sophisticated' moderns would have taken it as a bad sign.

Concerning Caesar's attitude towards his duties as pontifex maximus. I have a wild speculation about Clodius' appearance at the rites of the Bona Dea that I broached to Calpurnia once. What if Clodius was suppose to be there? Or rather, what if it was Caesar who was suppose to be there and Clodius was only standing in for him? I will have to explain further as to why this could have been the case, but if true then it certainly would shed light on how Caesar felt about performing his duties as pontifex maximus.